Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

I am definitely looking forward to going back to school and having more routine again as well as learning a bunch of new things. Most of my first year was in one way or the other repetition for me. Now I’m finally getting to actually new information and work thankfully. There are a few classes I underestimated last year that I’ll have to re-do, but nothing major thankfully.

School has been a bit of a sensitive subject for me the last few years. While I lived in Helsinki I first started in open university to try out one of the courses I wanted to study full-time, but it ended pretty disastrously. For context: my mother tongue and language I’ve always used in school is Swedish, but I am bilingual in Finnish. It became apparent pretty quickly that I didn’t truly understand what my teachers were talking about and even most of my classmates used Finnish at a much higher language level than I am.

As a person who was always identified as the smart kid, it came as quite the shock. Without going too deep into details: This lead to me getting anxiety and even panic attacks at the end of things. I essentially couldn’t even get on the bus that went towards my school without getting trouble to breathe and crying hysterically. I quit that course after just a few months pretty much, but never really figured out why I reacted so strongly to things.

I had always thought that I would study at a University, either literature or English, but I had to let go of that dream quite quickly once reality hit. Nowadays I am fine with that fact, but it was not something that I easily came to terms with. I did apply to another school in Helsinki afterward and got accepted to do a BBA in Arcada. I realized that I actually enjoyed the studies way more than I had expected. Getting a BBA had always been my plan B, but now it has slowly become more and more my thing.

While there I also went to see the school nurse about my anxiety, which is one of the best decision I’ve ever made. Talking to a professional helped me out a lot and gave a better start to figure out where exactly my problems stemmed from. I am a lucky person since my anxiety is mainly triggered by stress and worry, which is quite easy to control most of the time. I have been steadily getting better since then and recommend everyone to go seek help with any troubles you have before things get out of hand. There is still a lot of stigma and shame that surrounds mental health issues, so I hope that me talking about this can help remove a bit of that.

Now that I have moved back to Vaasa and started studying at Novia my mental health has been much, much better. I have plenty of friends and family here which helps a lot. Novia’s style of education also fits me much better and being able to walk to school is a huge deal for me, so everything feels a lot smoother. I have also really taken a liking to my area of studies and finally feel genuinely wanting to learn things. A nice, little, change I have noticed during this summer as well is that if we have driven past my school I don’t feel an anxiety lump in my throat and nausea at all anymore. I actually feel excited when I’m in that area of town, which is such a relief for me. I finally start to feel like myself again and my anxiety isn’t as much of a bother anymore as it used to be. I still have bad moments, but those won’t make me stay home or in bed for a few days a month anymore.

Now since school is starting I will sadly be changing my post schedule to see how well blogging sits with school work, just in case. I will be posting on my blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from next week onwards. I have however looked over my Instagram a little bit and will try to be a bit more active there instead to compensate, especially in my stories.

The obvious objective of video games is to entertain people by surprising them with new experiences. – Shigeru Miyamoto

I haven’t ever really been big on mobile games. I have my PC and consoles to play video games on and not really any long commutes or such where I would have a chance to play on my phone. I have really started to enjoy Alto’s Odyssey though. The game is part of the Alto’s Adventure series and it is a collaboration between Toronto based studio Snowman and UK based artist and developer Harry Nesbitt. The gameplay is very simple: you snowboard through a procedurally generated landscape and when you tap on your screen you jump. Tap and hold to do a backflip.

Even if the mechanics are simple they are hard to master. You can also buy different tools and upgrades through the workshop in the game with in-game currency. You get coins through playing the game, watching ads or buying with real money. Personally, I have not bought any coins and have had no issues with gathering them at a steady pace by playing the game. There are several other characters that become available to play by either buying the character with real money or doing challenges to gain levels.

What really made the game catch my eye was the art. It’s very minimalistic and changes while you play. There is a daytime cycle as well as different weather patterns so you don’t really get bored with the background even if you get really far into a session. I may also have hit my fair share of rocks and other obstacles because I was looking at the art and not where I was going. There are low rocks that I sometimes have a hard time spotting, especially once I have picked up speed, but other than that the visuals are clear and easy to follow. There is not a colorblindness setting in the game, in case you need that option.

The is very casual gamer friendly, so it will work for you even if you haven’t really played anything before thanks to the simple mechanics. The tutorials are pretty clear, even though it might take a few tries to get some of the tricks in the game. Practice does make perfect however and the game introduces the elements pretty slowly so that you can learn things at your own pace. When it comes to leveling you can also skip some of the goals you need to accomplish with using coins if you just can’t get it. I personally have not for the life of me been able to do a double backflip, so I skipped that goal.

So in case you need a new mobile game to play, I highly recommend Alto’s Odyssey. It’s easy to pick up and is easy to pause in case you need to do in between. The game won’t harass you with micro-transactions and I usually roll through a few ads to make some extra coins while making myself a cup of tea or such. It’s not a holy grail kind of game for me, but something that I will get a lot of fun out of for quite some time.

Isn’t it funny how the most unforgettable scenes can be so trivial? – Kousei Arima

Your Lie in April, or Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, finally came to Netflix. Now that I have finished watching it I figured I would do a bit of a review of the series. The anime is based on a manga with the same title and has 22 episodes. Music is at the center of this romance drama, following the life of Kousei Arima after the death of his mother. Kousei has not been able to play the piano for two years now and he lives a colorless life alongside his friends Tsubaki Sawabe and Ryouta Watari. That is until he meets Kaori Miyazono, a beautiful and lively violinist. The story follows Kousei’s recovery and how he learns that music is more than just playing every note perfectly according to the score.

The anime was very beautiful and I definitely cried more than once while watching it. Besides the struggles of a teenager in Junior Highschool, Kousei especially has to face his old traumas in order to be able to move forward with his life. We get to see the characters grow up emotionally and figure out their own feelings and what that means to them and their relationships. Loss of a loved one is a central theme through the series on various levels. I personally loved the focus that was put on what seemed like small, trivial moments. It is, in the end, those memories that you miss the most once that person is no longer with you, even if they might not seem like much at the time.

Watching this series has also kind of re-lit my interest in playing music. I’ll have to see if this actually leads to anything per se, but at least I went out of my way and created a classical music playlist on Spotify. I never really got into listening to classical pieces before, even if I have enjoyed a lot of soundtracks.

I give the series a 4 out of 5 cherry blossoms. I did really love it, but it’s not a series that will make it to my list of all time favorites. It is an emotional rollercoaster that teaches you to enjoy all those little moments life and that even in the depths of the darkest oceans, some light always pierces through.

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. – Confucius

In case you missed it, Yle X3M made an article about me and lolita fashion this weekend! I am absolutely stoked about the attention the article has gotten so far. I have gotten a few messages and a lot of shares on that article so it will be interesting to see if anything comes from this. Either way, I did not expect that me blogging about my hobbies would be interesting. So thank you to everyone who keeps reading my blog!

You might also have noticed that my pictures are looking a bit different now from time to time. Mainly because I am learning how to edit them myself! Previously my pictures have been taken and edited by my sister, but now I’m slowly learning how to edit them myself. I am definitely not great at the job yet, but I’m getting there slowly. Any (and all help) tips are much appreciated!

Besides all that I will also be starting to take Japanese class again. I’ve been a bit bothered by the fact that I never really learned that properly, now I get to change that. I have been keeping a bit of the rust off by watching anime and doing my occasional Duolingo session, but I mainly recognize a few words here and there currently.

I have also gotten a bit of response on my DnD posts, so as it is looking now I will actually be GMing a campaign this autumn! I still have two spots left in my group, so in case you are in Vaasa and comfortable with playing in both Swedish and English, feel free to send me a message. New players are also welcome, so no need to worry even if you haven’t played before.

School is also starting this week so expect a post about my relations with school and how it hasn’t been all peachy on Friday. Before that, I have an anime review scheduled as well as a DnD storytime, so stay tuned.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Now that I have given you a bit of the basics of Lolita fashion it’s time to get inspired! Go out on Pinterest, different webshops, and Instagram to find things you like. Try figuring out what kind of style you are going for and then start planning your first coordinate!

Here are a few of the items I am looking at currently for a start. The caption will include what brand and series the items are from like this: Brand -Series-. Hopefully, they’ll be easier to find that way!

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. – Albert Einstein

Since there seems to be a bit of interest in me talking about Game Mastering I figured I should talk about the basics first. There is a bunch of different tabletop roleplaying games out there, but I will mainly be focusing on Dungeons & Dragons as that is the one I am most familiar with, at least for now.

So what is Dungeons & Dragons? It is a tabletop RPG by Wizards of the Coast that was originally published in 1974. The game is currently on its 5th Edition and has become popularized thanks to Critical Role and other streams and podcasts of people playing the game. Personally, I have been playing from around 2009 and started with 3.5 edition with the Eberron map and a homemade campaign. I made the transition to 5th Edition when the game came out as it was quite more streamlined and more storytelling friendly than the previous addition.

Dungeons & Dragons is designed to be an adventure that you can play with your friends or strangers if you feel brave. What exactly you want to play, from characters to adventures, is very much up to you and what you decide on. I personally prefer more roleplaying heavy games where the characters and story are in focus, but that is in no way the only way to play the game. Some prefer to have so-called dungeon crawl style game where you explore dungeons, kill monsters and gain lots of treasure while others might simply be in it to kill the monsters in arena style scenarios.

It really is up to you and your players to decide together what kind of game you want to play. Usually, campaigns are a healthy mix of storytelling, dungeons, and combat, but you should always find the mix that you and your players are comfortable with. There is no such thing as a wrong style of playing Dungeons and Dragons as long as everybody is happy and having fun.

There is a ton of material available, both official and homebrew, in other words: homemade by other players. What you will need for running a game is:

Dungeon Master’s Guide

Monster Manual

Player’s Handbook

A d20 Dice Set

You can either buy the items directly from Wizards of the Coast or look for a local game store or webshop that sells the books. You can also find the basic rules online if you want to have a bit of a sneak peek at the game. I usually buy my dice from different retailers and at conventions and currently own 10 different looking sets. There are also tons of accessories you can buy, from DM Screens to miniatures and maps, but they are in no way mandatory.

There are a ton of ready-made adventures out there in case you don’t want to start with creating your own campaign. One of my personal favorites is Curse of Strahd which is based on the Ravenloft adventure from a previous edition. It is a very good place to start especially if you and your players are new to the game as it takes off most of the pressure with designing and leading a game. Your players may still come up with ideas and solutions that the book doesn’t cover, so be prepared to come up with things on the fly once you get to know your player characters (PCs). I recommend reading the whole book before you start playing, just so you know what exactly is expected to happen where.

I hope that this has been a decent introduction to what the idea of the game is. I’ll be covering quite a bit of the basics first for those who aren’t familiar with the game. Next up will be Character Creation as that is the main task of the player besides playing the game. It’s also healthy to know the process of character creation and what decisions there are to make. The players will also gain different abilities during the game that it’s good to know of.

I’m really excited for this series and I hope that it will help some of you to get to know a game that is very close to my heart.

This alikaiwonderland.com is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This alikaiwonderland.com may use the trademarks and other intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast LLC, which is permitted under Wizards’ Fan Site Policy [link]. For example, Dungeons & Dragons® is a trademark[s] of Wizards of the Coast. For more information about Wizards of the Coast or any of Wizards’ trademarks or other intellectual property, please visit their website at (www.wizards.com).

Clothes is just something you put on to cover yourself… fashion is a way to communicate. – Dries van Noten

In my series, I have explained quite a bit about the fashion but I have not explained any substyles yet! Gosh, what a miss. Just as a note: I won’t be going through all of the substyles, because there is quite a lot of them. There will be links to my sources on the bottom of this post where you can find full lists and explanations in case I missed the one you’re specifically looking for.

Gothic Lolita

This style is one of the most commonly found and most popular styles in lolita. It’s inspired by the gothic style and was popularized by the Japanese musician Mana and their brand Moi-même-Moitié. Darker colors, crosses, and veils are not uncommon in this style. Compared to the western goth style gothic lolita is much sweeter and cuter. Mainly black coordinates with accent colors are quite common, but there are also tons of gothic prints out there nowadays.

Sweet Lolita

Sweet lolita is another big substyle of lolita fashion. The colors often in the pastel range and incorporate much more cute prints and accessories. Berries, pastries, teddy bears and sweets are common themes. This is also the frilliest and most bow and ribbon covered substyle. There is quite the color range with baby blues, whites, pinks, mints and even yellows to pick from and easy to coordinate around once you have a bit of a collection.

Classic Lolita

Classic Lolita is the last of the three bigger substyles. The style often a bit more mature and muted than the others and you can often see solid colored pieces and floral prints, but they are not required for the substyle. The style is much more simple, with fewer big ribbons and ruffles but still keeps a cuter aesthetic than for example the Aristocrat style has. Dresses are often more A-line than bell-shaped and the head accessories are smaller and more elegant in style.

Besides these styles some of my personal favorites is military lolita (which isn’t mentioned in any of the links). I just love the whole uniform feeling of the style and the clean lines as well as the color schemes. I have not been able to get my paws on a dress in this style yet, but one day I will get myself something in that substyle. I also prefer to stay on the more classic – gothic axel of things, but my style mixes all of the three styles mentioned. Not every coord is obviously just from a single substyle, they can be mixed and matched a bit to create something that suits you.

Sources

Fashion is about dressing according to what’s fashionable. Style is more about being yourself. – Oscar de la Renta

Today I will be covering more on something called “lifestyle lolita”. It’s quite simple really, it just means that your whole life fits the lolita aesthetic. You wear the fashion every day in one form or the other, you have hobbies like embroidery or going to museums, you drink lots of tea and your house or apartment is decorated accordingly. This is something that is very personal and at what point you do consider yourself a lifestyler.

Besides wearing the fashion on a daily basis another key point is that you essentially live your life like a Victorian maiden (with variables whether you are a classic, gothic or sweet lolita). Obviously, you can enjoy classical music, museums, and crafts without being a lifestyler but it is part of the general definition. I actually really like this WikiHow article about becoming a lifestyle lolita. It covers a lot of the points I have touched on earlier, like how to build your wardrobe and how to shop on a budget, but includes lots of good pointers I probably missed. I also found this list on the EGL Livejournal that gives lots of ideas of things you can do.

So what exactly can you incorporate in your life that would make you a lifestyler? Some more obvious options would be to learn how to play instruments, like the violin or piano, hosting tea parties, refining your manners and etiquette knowledge as well as baking. Think of pretty much anything a Lady in Victorian times would be having as a hobby and you have it. It could also include visiting graveyards, researching your local history and culture or letting your inner child out to play once in a while.

Personally, I definitely don’t consider myself a lifestyler. I do however enjoy museums, tea, cute things and classical music. There is something very special about going out to town in lolita to buy tea for example, and I definitely have “Princess Days”. I usually dress up, do my makeup and my hair (or put on a wig) before enjoying a day out, a cup of tea or some D&D feeling all poofy. It is also not something I would want to do all the time as it takes quite a bit of effort. I would want to learn embroidery and piano though, among other cutesy hobbies. I essentially have lifestyle days, but am in no way inclined to being a lolita 24/7.

In the end, what matters is whether you consider yourself a lifestyle lolita or not. It’s not something that you should feel pressured more into, as lolita is just a fashion style in the end. If it happens to fit you and feel like you then go on ahead! This is in no way a requirement to call yourself a lolita, but it’s fun to see where your life and hobby are the same.

Being in the same room with people and creating something together is a good thing. – Robin Williams

I have been thinking of returning to Dungeon Mastering a Dungeons and Dragons game for quite a while now, but haven’t really had any ideas of what kind of campaign I want to run. Now I’m starting to have a few ideas at least! I’m also tempted on running a cyberpunk game, but as I want to find a game system I am comfortable with it could take a while before that goes anywhere.

I am tempted to write about the whole process here, giving hints and tips, and sharing how I create monsters and NPCs. I’ll try to keep things as spoiler-free as I can in case any of my players are going to read my posts. There might be a few posts that I can’t keep all spoiler free, but I will mark out those sections clearly.

DnD is a game that I have played for years now, on and off, but it is still very close to my heart. Especially now with the 5th edition, it’s so much easier to get started and get new players into it. The system is very streamlined and more roleplaying friendly. I previously played the 3.5 edition, which was quite fun, but it required reading so many books and a lot of number crunching. There are so many elements that you can use (and abuse) that there was too much to keep track of at some point. Of course, they weren’t a necessity, but depending on your players you might need to know even obscure rules.

I am very tempted on creating a world map myself for the case, using something existing as a base. I am highly considering using the Breath of the Wilds map as a base and guideline for my map, but I’ll have to see about that and how easy it will be to adapt to this game. As I am very familiar with LoZ in general compared to a lot of my players it does make it easier to control what players assume about my world. I will be making a whole post most likely about my world creation when I start to work on that.

Besides the world map, I will also work on quests, dungeons, and plots of different sort. I might keep some of this a bit more hush-hush to avoid spoilers, but I can write about my process there at least. That means I will also do some work on designing encounters, treasure, and NPCs that you can find out in the world. So there is quite a bit of work, but most of it is fun for me. I do struggle with combat encounters still, but that is one of the harder things to balance in a game.

In the end, the work is worth it though. There is something special about gathering around a table and going on an adventure with your friends. Telling a story together and experiencing life through someone else’s eyes is also something that is very giving to oneself. Even if you don’t truly experience it all yourself it does teach you a lot about empathy and being open minded.

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it. – Robin Williams

So here is finally a look at my new hair! I really loved my carrot color, but felt like I needed a change… again. Mainly because the upkeep is a pain as I had to have it bleached. I decided to go with a darker rootage and red for the rest. The copper that was underneath is still showing up through the red, but I don’t really mind. I had also forgotten how quickly a bright red gets washed out, so I might need to top up on my pigment treatments here at home… Well, you win some, you lose some.

Besides the new hair, I have also another new thing going on. I will be Game Mastering a larp! The game is a re-run of Arrrgh! a pirate larp set in a tavern. The game is pretty chill and atmospheric, so in case you are curious about larping do check it out. You can find our website here and the signup is still open! The game is going to be on the 15th of September in Jakobstad.

I’m pretty excited about helping GMing a game at last, but also to get to revisit a game that I really liked. I will be playing a new character this time as well, so I’ll be seeing a bit of a different side of the whole game. I will be part of the crew on The Captain’s Bloody Victory as Anna Moore while the last time I played Will Jones, the 2nd gunner.

I am not 100% sure about my outfit yet, but parts of the look in this post will be making it to the larp at least! I do have a pair of pants in the mail as well that I really hope will look awesome.

Welcome to my realm of madness! Take a seat, have some tea and try not to choke on the cupcakes.
I am a 20-something-year-old business student from Vaasa with more than a few geeky hobbies. Here you can read about Lolita fashion, my life, Dungeons and Dragons and what happens to be on my mind at the moment.